A little over a month ago, before my vacation, the lady at my work who sells Tigers tickets posted a long list of games she had available. Unsure of what my schedule would hold I picked a Wednesday and a Friday night in the first week of August, confident that I'd be able to find a friend for each. One of the games I intended to go to with my new roommate, and as the dates approached we worked out that Friday would be better for him. With one more ticket to share I invited a friend who was in Wisconsin for a conference, but said that he would return in time to make it to the game.
He came over yesterday after I got home from work. Before he arrived I did some quick house cleaning. I was having some new windows installed the next day, so my roommate helped me take the air conditioner out of the window in my bedroom. Last summer, one of my big home improvement projects was having ten new windows put in throughout the ground floor. The old ones were single pane glass with metal frames. I shuddered every time I thought about how little heat they would keep in the winter. Memories of the past winter sleeping next to a space heater in my old second-floor apartment were fresh in my mind. I intended to spend the next one cozy, warm and on the ground. Because I was living alone the upstairs was basically just for storage, so I didn't bother to have to two up there replaced. After finally claiming the loft as my own a month ago after my roommates moved in, the constantly chipping paint and thoughts of a winter curled around the heater vent made me decide to complete the job.
On the drive down to Comerica Park my friend told me about the time he had just spent in the city of Madison, and how it equated to most Midwest college towns. He told me how all of the places that would appeal to people like us were found on one block of the city, and how that contrasted to Detroit where interesting venues are spread across various neighborhoods. I can see the charm of a "smaller big city", where you don't have to go far to do everything you might want to when spending a night out. At the same time, I enjoy Detroit's diffuse cultural makeup. On occasions, like the bicycle scavenger hunt I went on several months ago, when you can connect various places around the city, it makes for an exciting new experience. Most of the time, however, the activity dictates the location; if you want to do A, you should go to B. If you want C, go to D. This feeling only reinforces my love of Ferndale. While it maintains the "do it all here" homeliness, it doesn't have everything. Depending on your mood, it can be welcoming or nice to get away from. Ferndale has friendly bars, some really great restaurants and numerous shops that cater perfectly to its residents, but when you're looking for a concert or a walk along the riverfront, Detroit isn't far away. Likewise, if you're looking for great Mexican food, you're not going to go to Cantina Diablos, you're going to go to Mexicantown. In the end, the people make the city. The reason I feel so at home in Ferndale is because its culture has already been established by so many people with the same interests and ideas.
The game itself was fairly uneventful, us being Tigers fans. Chicago scored a run in the first inning and never trailed. The Tigers rallied in the eighth but only scored one run. For the most part, we spent our time chatting as opposed to watching the game. On the way back home he expounded on his interest in a career as a researcher. He told me of a specific study done with some Wayne State students as an example of the kind of thing he would one day like to administer. Two groups of strangers were put into a room together with conversational prompts. The first group took part in small talk ("how's the weather?", "do you like pizza?") while the second was given more enlightening topics, such as religion philosophy. After ten minutes or so, the groups were then asked to play a game of Jenga together. In concurrence with the researcher's hypothesis, the people that participated in small talk were less likely to work together while playing the game than the group which had engaged in more meaningful conversation. Hearing proof of a seemingly simple and positive outlook on humanity had me smiling. Recounting this story makes me want to launch into a philosophical rant about the importance of human bonding and sharing our thoughts and feelings, but I've decided I don't want this blog to be about that. Maybe my novel?
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